For some people, it’s just a piece of wood. For others, it embodies a whole world. At least, that is how Alexandre has always seen it. For the trained electrical engineer, applying his imagination and enormous craftsmanship to creating forms and functions from wood is more than just a hobby he has come to love. It has become part of his life and character; a part he cannot do without.
Back in his college days, he demonstrated enormous skill in building model planes. Attending to even the smallest of technical details with creativity, commitment and love, he created small works of art. Fairly unusual for an electrical engineer. The aerospace company that employed him as an aircraft cabin design trainee during his graduation had much the same thought.
“For me, working with wood has always been an education,” states Alexandre. “Doing this kind of craft work was an excellent way of developing my spatial perception and styling creativity. This stood me in very good stead when it came to CAD design in development projects.”
Changing from aircraft construction to automotive development at EDAG in 1998 was no problem whatsoever for Alexandre. On the contrary: “I started off in car design. At that time, we were a small office with just 15 employees, and were already working for really quite major customers,” he recalls.
As time went by, the office grew along with the tasks of the emerging customers in the Latin-American market. “The automotive industry is one of the most important players in the São Paulo region. All the major OEMs have facilities here. A real hotspot – and we are at the centre of things,” says Alexandre with a smile. In the boom years following the turn of the millennium, EDAG established a very broad base, and business with the big shots of the commercial vehicle industry such as DAF, Iveco, VW and Mercedes went particularly well.
The more varied and diverse the company’s development tasks grew in this extremely dynamic market, the broader the range of work and responsibilities became that Alexandre took on. Car design and CAD-based work on the technical details were very soon things of the past. Alexandre was needed for other tasks. For instance as a Project Manager, or since 2017 as the Head of Product Development.
This also meant that his role in the team changed. “Today, I am more concerned with keeping track of things, supporting my colleagues in their work, and creating the best possible conditions to ensure their success,” he says. “In my position, communication is of the utmost importance. I spend less and less time on design, and more and more time listening and finding solutions. In a wide variety of project fields. At one and the same time.” But that’s exactly what makes his job so interesting in the meantime. “Because every project is different, no two days are the same. I constantly need to take a fresh look at things, and there is always something new to learn.”
A development is something like an expedition: “The greater the challenges, the more strongly the team pulls together. There’s no clock watching if we are busy trying to find an optimum solution,” explains the project leader.
Mutual trust is a matter of great importance to him. “If we are to be successful together, we need to be able to rely on one another. So it is good to know that we and our colleagues all around the world are one big EDAG family, and will go through thick and thin together.”
The EDAG team in Brazil has really had to close ranks over the last two years. Following years of great growth, the Brazilian economy ground to a halt in 2017. Falling commodity prices, increasing indebtedness in the private sector and very low productivity dealt the ninth-largest economy a severe blow. Unemployment has risen from 8.6 to twelve percent.
All of this has left its mark on EDAG Brazil. The major development projects of the OEMs were put on hold during the crisis, and in their place operative business and the completion of existing orders were on the agenda instead,” reports Alexandre “All of us, our customers included, have been through a difficult period. The good thing about this is that the crisis has brought us much closer together.”
And if things get really stressful, Alexandre still has his woodworking workshop at home. “It’s a great place for me to relax,” he smiles. Most of all, he likes making furniture. Working together, he and his daughters recently made all the furniture and fittings for their room. “My girls’ enthusiasm for our family project was phenomenal. That really motivated me. Like at work, I wanted to get the creation of our home 100 percent right,” he reports. The room, he says, is now an absolute gem. But what was more important to him was the time he spent with his family. “That makes me totally happy, and is a source of great strength and pleasure in my life.”
Meanwhile, the situation in Brazil has eased a little, there is more confidence in the economy again, and EDAG Brasil can once again focus on its actual mission: “keep moving forward and make sure of having your sights firmly set on target,” Alexandre cheerfully declares. Because that’s what he likes doing best. Apart from his woodwork.
